Allstate spokesman Justin Herndon has noticed a few things whiledriving to New Orleans in anticipation of Hurricane Isaac.

“The gas lines are getting longer,” he says while grabbingsomething to eat along his route to NOLA—which leads to anotherobservation.

“This is all anyone down here is talking about,” he adds. “Inevery restaurant, or any place you go in with a TV, theWeather Channel is on. This has people's attention.”

It has the attention of insurers too. Many are gassing upcatastrophe-response vehicles and sending more personnel to areaspredicted to be among the hardest hit by Isaac, whichis forecast to make landfall near New Orleans late Tuesday asa Category 2 hurricane.

Herndon was on his way to the city for some media obligationsbefore turning back to Mobile, Ala.

The insurer's mobile-home-size claims centers are being stagedin Mobile, Ala. and Baton Rouge, La.

In addition to the larger mobile claims vehicles, Allstate isusing a new tool to handle claims this year—smallercatastrophe response vehicles similar to television news satellitetrucks, says company spokeswoman April Eaton.

“They are small enough in scale to drive into some of theheavily-damaged areas as soon as authorities let us in,” shesays.

Herndon says the insurer tested the concept last year whenHurricane Irene flogged the East Coast.

State Farm, the largest private provider of homeowners insurancein each of the Gulf States, is staging its mobile claims vehiclesin Georgia and Mississippi, says spokesman Gary Stephenson.

“Once Isaac makes landfall, the vehicles will move into impactedareas to allow State Farm policyholders to begin the claimsprocess,” he says.

When a storm's course is reasonably determined,pre-storm planning includes the insurer's advertising, humanresources, claims, agency and administrative services units—incharge of temporarily renting space for additional representativesto handle claims.

“There's definitely a playbook,” says Stephenson, who was sonhis way to Baton Rouge from his office in Little Rock, Ark. “Wehave people traveling today and we have more standing by in otherlocations in case this storm shifts.”

Isaac's extended winds and heavy rains affected Florida onMonday. Citizens Property Insurance Corp.—the state's largestwriter of property insurance—says it expects 20,000 to 50,000claims and called in 300 independent adjusters to join 450adjusters already in the field.

Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. announced it stoppedwriting new business while the state's governor has asked coastalresidents to voluntarily evacuate.

Isaac could be the storm Louisiana Insurance Commissioner JimDonelon was worried about when the state's last-resort insurer lostmultiple court battles in an attempt to not pay a $105 million judgment against it.

Policyholders had alleged the insurer failed to adjust claims ina timely manner following hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

Donelon has said a hurricane this season, coupled with thejudgment, could significantly weaken the state-run insurer. Withthis scenario in mind, Donelon called the judgment a “potentially devastating event.”